Mochiko chicken is what happens when a Japanese-Hawaiian home cook has leftover mochiko in the pantry and chicken thighs in the fridge. The mochiko and cornstarch coating fries up into a thin, craggy, almost glassy crust that shatters instead of crunching — different from panko, and part of why nobody can stop eating these once the first batch hits the plate.
This is a lunch-box and potluck fixture precisely because it's just as good cold as it is hot. Pack it, forget about it, eat it three hours later in a parking lot — still ono.
